Millie Jackson - It Hurts So Good

2006

Before hitting her stride with 1974's Caught Up, Millie Jackson delivered this tasty disc of uptown Southern soul. Both Stax raw and Philly International slick, It Hurts So Good percolates with smoky horns, snaking guitar lines, electric piano, strings, and bluesy funk grooves. In addition to her usually provocative take on relationships (both in the home and at the dark end of the street), Jackson -- via Curtis Mayfield -- delivers the affecting ghetto laments "I Cry," "Hypocrisy," and "Two-Faced World." And while some of the charts are a bit lacking, Jackson is solid throughout, especially on slow-burners like "Good to the Very Last Drop." A fine early offering from the diva of salacious sass.

It Hurts So Good Review by Stephen Cook